Jasper Therapeutics, Civica Rx and MEI Pharma have announced a series of leadership hires.
Jasper has brought on Edwin Tucker as chief medical officer. Tucker replaces Daniel Adelman, who has been serving as the company’s acting chief medical officer since March. Adelman will move into a role as senior clinical advisor and has been appointed to Jasper’s scientific advisory board.
Company CEO Ron Martell noted in a statement that Tucker’s arrival coincides with Jasper’s build-out of its clinical program for briquilimab, an anti-c-Kit antibody being examined for treatment in chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) and lower to intermediate risk myelodysplastic syndromes (LR-MDS).
“Edwin brings an extraordinary depth of clinical and industry experience and a proven track record of leading programs to successful new drug approvals,” Martell said in the statement. “We look forward to his leadership and contributions as we advance briquilimab toward our next clinical milestones.”
Tucker joins Jasper from Goldfinch Bio, where he last served as chief medical officer. Previously, he held roles at Mirum Pharmaceuticals, Acerta Pharma (which is now part of AstraZeneca), Genentech, Janssen Research and Development and Bayer.
Civica Rx announced that it has tapped Jay Benson as chief manufacturing and supply chain officer. He steps into the role previously held by Russ Gall, who is retiring.
Benson joins Civica from Thermo Fisher Scientific, where he was VP of global operations for the company’s clinical diagnostics division. Before that, he worked at Takeda and Bayer.
“Jay joins us at a pivotal time in Civica’s history as we prepare to operate our recently constructed sterile injectable manufacturing facility in Petersburg, Virginia, just outside of Richmond,” said Civica president and CEO Ned McCoy in a statement. “His extensive biopharma leadership experience will be a terrific addition to our team as we fulfill our dreams of making essential generic medications to address drug shortages in hospitals and biosimilar insulin to make it more affordable to people living with diabetes across the United States.”
MEI Pharma announced that Brian Drazba will step down from his role as CFO and Justin (Jay) File will take his place. File joins from Evofem, where he was CFO.
The news comes a few weeks after MEI Pharma rejected an unsolicited bid from investors Anson Funds Management and Cable Car Capital to buy the company. Following the rejection of the bid, MEI CEO Daniel Gold stepped down. He has since been replaced by chief operating officer David Urso.
“Brian [Drazba] has been a true asset to MEI providing invaluable fiscal and business leadership as we advanced our clinical programs and executed various transactions, including multiple partnering deals and equity financings,” Urso said in a statement, adding that File “has demonstrated the knowledge and experience we need to support our success as we move to the next chapter of MEI’s growth.”
